


Stuck between a...cupboard? and a hard place

by orphan_account



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, How Do I Tag, Humor, I HAD TO HYPE MYSELF UP TO POST THIS, I Tried, One Shot, Random & Short, This Is STUPID, Why Did I Write This?, but it doesn't change really anything at all, i couldnt find any fics of kukui just being a wholesome dumbass so i did it myself, kukui is very smart but also lowkey a dumbass: the fic, literal shitpost, no beta we die like depressed school students finding joy in the stupidest of ideas, rarely write dialogue so this is also a practice, this stemmed from a stupid idea at 1am please dont judge me, uhh i use the japanese names and stuff because i personally prefer them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:26:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27389431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Kukui is well-aware that he can be a bit clumsybut this is just ridiculous.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Stuck between a...cupboard? and a hard place

**Author's Note:**

> me: alright, this is a very stupid idea that i'll probably write 300 words on and never post-
> 
> me, hours later with over 2.3k words: y'all hear sumn
> 
> i wrote this for fun and had to build the courage to post it lmao enjoy

_  
  
  
_In his defense, it’s not like anyone warned him that this could happen.  
  
He’s sure that it’s a spectacular sight, one that he sincerely hopes no one will be bestowed with the ability to see. Though at this rate, his wish may remain unheard.  
  
The cabinet presses even harder against his shin as he attempts to maneuver out his leg, aggravating the already sore red scratches that cascade down from his knee. Kukui winces, trying again to twist it out only to bash his head square against the corner of the shelf above him, hissing harshly at the sudden burst of pain by his temple. He exhales painfully, pressing the palm of his only free hand up to the throbbing pulsing that he can already feel turning a murky purple.  
  
Welp. Guess he’s really stuck here, huh.  
  
‘Here’ being the catastrophically arranged plethora of cabinets, cupboards, shelves and drawers, the uncoordinated array making his head swim even more – he’s never been the best at organisation, but even he can humbly agree that the jumble of furniture is just an eyesore. The pile of textbooks sits mockingly atop one of such offending pieces of appliance, completely forgotten after realizing in silent disbelief what ridiculousness he had unknowingly buried (both literally and figuratively) himself into: a large, incredibly heavy cabinet most likely filled with various precious chemistry equipment pressed against his now-bleeding left leg, whole right side completely wedged between the massive cupboard next to him and the wall, leaving him cramped painfully into the corner, unable to move or adjust his position without doing his head in. Confirming what his brain has been firmly denying for the past 20 or so minutes – he is, indeed, _stuck._  
  
In the middle of his lunch break.  
  
Fun.  
  
The corner is quite cozy in its isolation, he supposes, if you take away the awkward way his whole body is squished into the tiny crevice. Maybe he’ll just waste away here into dust, alone to consider his life's decisions.  
  
“...H-hakase??”  
  
_Shit._  
  
Kukui had missed the resounding sounds of footsteps and whispers approaching his unwilling place of shelter while cursing the shelves and mourning the loss of painless days, palm still pressed forcefully against is temple.  
  
The professor startles at the sudden cut through silence, eyes wide, ignoring the dull thunk of his head as it lightly hits the side of the cupboard door.  
  
In the door-frame stand Lilie, Suiren and Kaki, all in various levels of awed disbelief. Well, Suiren looks the most amused out of the 3, the boy next to her purely riding on sheer, “wtf” shock. Clear concern colours their faces even so, only increasing once their eyes land on the harsh maroon peeking out from under his palm.  
  
He painstakingly feels the exact moment his brain catches up with his eyes, cheeks flaming in embarrassment. All he can do against it is mourn the loss of his one wish.  
  
“U-uh, alola...” his leg hits the cabinet side again, this time even harder. It steals his attention with a small, sharp “ow” that pierces the silence once again.  
  
The trio seem to break out of their stupor, rushing over to where Kukui is currently shoved _into_ the wall, between the cabinets. It’s Suiren who voices one of her several, slightly broken, questions first.  
  
“wha- are you _stuck?_ \- how did you even get in there..” her voice is breathy in shock and possible laughter, though at this point the professor is unable to distinguish the two. She peers over the cabinets as much as she can, still running the situation through her head. Lillie stands still beside her with Kaki, whose face perfectly resembles the Windows error message.  
  
“I...A-are you okay?” She asks, eyes lingering on the mark he’s still protecting with his palm – naturally, she’s the most concerned out of the three, yet he swears he can see the way the corner of her lip is tilted slightly upwards.  
  
Kukui laughs nervously, cursing the uncontrollable way his face heats up even more, making the tips of his ears turn pink. He avoids their eyes. _  
  
_“I- uh- I’ve got myself in a bit of a predicament, haven’t I?” As he’s ~~stumbling~~ speaking, he tries to pull his arm out from the space currently holding his whole right side captive (hey, one of the books fell and he tried to retrieve it, okay?) but to absolutely zero avail, “I mean, to be honest, I don’t really quite know how I managed to do this either...”  
  
Kaki finally manages to break free from whatever trance he was in, tone completely monotone as he inspects the cupboard. “Are you actually stuck? Like, for real?”  
  
“...yup”  
  
“I...don’t know whether to be concerned or impressed”  
  
“Deeeefinitely both” Despite her words, Suiren visibly leans more towards the latter than the former, taking in how Kukui is literally squished heavily into a single corner practically _behind_ the cupboard, one arm pinned beyond her sight’s reach and the other held almost protectively against his chest.  
  
Lilie’s face changes from shocked to immensely confused in a matter of seconds, ignoring the discussion next to her. “Wait, wait, what were you even trying to do???” Both students stop and turn to her, blink, then back to Kukui, who really wishes he could bury his whole body into the wall right about now. It’s a few beats before he speaks, voice uncharacteristically quite and muffled by the collar of his lab coat.  
  
“….trying to reach the books.” His eyes flick over briefly to the abandoned pile resting on the cabinet, probably already collecting dust.  
  
…  
  
“O- _oh_ ” The word ends a little high-pitched, Kaki’s shoulders shaking in poorly repressed laughter, contrasting Suiren’s unapologetic _wheezing_. Even Lilie is cracking an amused smile, hand lightly over her mouth. Kukui huffs, but can’t help but laugh too nonetheless as the hilarity of the situation ensues, now fully aware of how weird his current position is.  
  
“Well, I guess I’m glad you’re at least finding some joy in this.” His tone conveys purely :/ but there’s not heat behind the words.  
  
“ _Inspiration_ may be a better word for it.” Suiren sings, smiling innocently.  
  
“...I swear to Tapus, don’t do this. _Please_. I’m straight up _not having a good time right now_ and if I have to pull y’all out of the cupboard next lesson I might actually have a stroke.”  
  
“I- did- did you just un-ironically use _y'all_ -”  
  
“Don't worry, hakase, I don’t even think we’d be able to recreate this anyway.”  
  
“Yeah, I gotta say, your creativity levels are really _through the roof_ right now.”  
  
“Pfft- Suiren!”  
  
“I- I am truly regretting my existence right now _”_ He sighs tremendously, thunking the back of his head against the wall, looking betrayed for all the world. Suiren snorts, muttering “it truly is a beautiful sight” as Lillie gapes openly at her. Yet they still collect a moment of seriousness to decide how exactly to approach this ‘operation’, as they’ve called it, leaving Kaki in the dirt to wallow in his disturbance. He meets Kukui’s eyes, mouth falling open when he mouths “y’all”.  
  
“So, I’d say it would be best to move _this_ cabinet _first,”_ she presses her pointer finger onto the coarse wooden surface, _“_ and that way you can get mostly out and then pry yourself from the clutches of the cupboard yourself.”  
  
Biting her lip, Lillie turns “Um, Suiren, I’m not very strong so I don’t know if I’d be able to lift it-”  
  
“It’s okay, I can probably lift this away from myself.” The straight-up BS lie is his brain’s last pathetic attempt to argue that he _is not stuck._ “The cabinet is quite heavy since it has so many metal bits and pieces in it – I don’t want you to hurt yourself.” Kukui tries to offer Lillie a reassuring smile, though she gazes back at him with an eyebrow raised in both judgement and concern. Suiren seems to pick up on what she’s thinking.  
  
“But didn’t you say just now that you were a man in need-”  
  
“Uh, well, that’s-” His own flustered response is denied by life itself as his elbow hits the wall. Hard. He sucks a breath through clenched teeth, dropping his head down to fight off the pained groan about to escape him. The trio immediately gasp, voices rising in worry – he waves them off with a floppy hand, peering over at the purple bruise forming just below the joint (well, as much as physically possible, anyway). Kaki moves to help him, wincing along with the rest of them.  
  
“Are you _sure_ you’re okay?”  
  
It takes him a considerable amount of effort to respond in a somewhat level tone that doesn’t quite stick by the end, “a-Yup, just fine. _Ow..._ ” Mind completely overwhelmed by the new addition to the list of pains currently tormenting him, the professor foolishly forgets his temple; it takes him a beat to remember what they’re suddenly so concerned about. Their brows furrow, all traces of amusement now left behind in worry.  
  
“You’re really only going to hurt yourself more if you keep moving around, hakase.” Her words sound so genuinely stressed that Kukui visibly falters, half-registering Suiren’s typical but equally worried “that ain’t looking too good, chief.”  
  
“If we move this together we’ll be able to at least get it out of the way.” He moves to protest, still cradling his elbow, but Kaki plows on, determination set if the intense flames in his eyes are anything to go by. “Don’t move, we’ll get this off of you. We. Are. Helping. You”  
  
The sudden fierceness and pure concern for _him_ takes Kukui completely off guard. After a long moment of stunned silence, face undecipherable, he gives in, offering a small nod; albeit a little warm. Backing up even further against the wall, he’s pretty sure he breaks the rules of physics to do so (but to be fair he’s never been a big fan of the subject anyway). The wince is hard to hide as he adjusts the elbow in the cramped space.  
  
Positioning themselves on either side, Kaki on one with the two girls on the other, the students count to 3 before heaving up the cabinet. It drags them down, forcing them to rush to deposit it on the other side of the room before it collapses from out of their hands. With a great sigh of relief, shoulders slump as Kukui eagerly turns into the new area that smells of _freedom_ , prying the cupboard from the wall enough to finally release his right side. Stumbling with the sudden weight on his completely numb and prickly legs, he sinks down, back to the wall before he can stop himself. The completely wrinkled lab coat lays haphazardly on his shoulders, yet he honestly can’t bring himself to care in the midst of his unbridled solace. Flexing his completely red fingers, he relishes in the feeling of his circulation returning to his side, like a hero coming home after a time spent at war.  
  
War with a cupboard and a cabinet. Huh.  
  
The enthusiastic trio rush back up to him, slightly winded from the unreasonable weight of the stupid, blasted cabinet that killed his vibe. Kaki stands tall and proud, earning a light smack from Suiren and giggle from Lilie. Though their eyes still hold a lingering gaze on the bruises on his temple, elbow and legs, which are decorated with long scratches, painted a dark red now that the blood has clotted over. A raised eyebrow from the boy in front of him prompts an answer, now very eager to squash any of their concerns about _him_ as soon as they appear. “Don’t worry, these will heal in no time. It’s just a scratch.”  
  
“Hmm, might have to get some ice for those bruises, though.” Lillie muses, passing Kukui the small pile of textbooks. Clouds float off of them as he dusts them off.  
  
Suiren nods, dead serious. “A small price to pay for salvation”  
  
“...I feel like I’ve seen too much. On this day.”  
  
“You and me both. I’m also pretty sure I’ll need an extra ice pack for my now heavily bruised pride.”  
  
“Shiron can only make so much ice, hakase! She’ll tire herself out >:(“  
  
“I- Lilie!” he gasps in mock-offense, hand against his chest, barely repressing a laugh at Suiren’s dramatic “oh woe is me~”.  
  
Their small argument (ahem, _civilized conversation_ ) is cut in half by the shrill ringing of the school bell; they all startle, Kukui admittedly jumping the most at the sudden noise. “Damn, already? Close call.” He sighs after the initial heart attack, already missing his non-existent lunch break, “thank you for, uh...” face reddening for possibly the 4th time in the last few minutes, he tilts down his cap, eyes flicking away “...helping”  
  
Suiren sniggers in response, turning to a full-blown laugh watching Lillie curtsy exaggeratedly, making Kukui bow his head to the floor in response. The boy beside him crosses his arms against his chest, grinning. As they turn to leave, the aquamarine-haired girl calls over her shoulder, voice coloured with amusement:  
  
“Teach us the secrets of your admirable capabilities next time please, Kukui-hakase!”  
  
All three giggle uncontrollably as their poor teacher’s indignant splutters carry down the empty hallway.  
  


* * *

  
  
No less than 10 unusually long minutes later when they’re all positioned at their desks, chaotically overlapping concerns are raised when Kukui strolls (well, stumbles) in a few minutes late with far too many scratches, deep red and purple markings poorly covered by his cap and sleeves. He shoots down the questions, worried voices building in volume over one another with a nervous laugh, hastily turning to start the lesson without a viable explanation.  
  
If the ice, water and fire trainers have anything to do with the way the professor’s face warms whenever he goes over to the cupboard, all they offer are smug smiles in return.  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> if you made it this far...<333
> 
> headcanon: kukui is very smart but also a clumsy dumbass that manages to trip over a leaf and then later hop onto the corner of a wrestling ring with perfect balance in one jump. i stan.
> 
> uh thank you so much for reading my disaster of an indulgent shitpost  
> literally anything is appreciated, especially criticism and comments,  
> peace <3


End file.
